25/05/2014 Sport XIV

Hello and welcome to May's Sport XIV. It's a busy programme.

Here's what's coming up on the show tonight.

I'm getting bored in here all the time. I just want to ride my bike.

We spend three months behind the scenes with cyclist

Charline Joiner as she recovers from a broken back.

That stays with you because it's real.

Alex Arthur reflects on his gold medal performance from 1998.

HE SHOUTS

And we bring you all the drama

and excitement as the IRB World Sevens came to town.

But first a story that not even a Hollywood producer would believe.

If an athlete was to break their back in the Commonwealth year,

you'd assume that would mean their hopes

and dreams of competing would be ruined. Not Charline Joiner.

Four years ago she won a silver medal.

On 4th January this year she was involved in a training crash

but then returned to action earlier this month.

Sport XIV has been given exclusive access to an amazing comeback.

-COMMENTATOR:

-Charline Joiner taking that sprint.

'I could cry, I'm so happy.'

'I was in Spain with the Scottish cycling team.

'I was at the back of the bunch

'and the crash happened at the front of the bunch of maybe about nine,

'ten riders and then just got catapulted into the air.

'I think I hit my head

'and then I landed on my back on another fallen bike.

'There was an electric pain, just started shooting through my body.'

I had broken three of the transverse processes in my back,

which are... You've got the spine

and then you've got the little knobbly bits that come off the side.

'I was so grateful and thankful that I would be able to walk again

'that I wasn't even thinking about cycling.'

I was thinking about, I can walk at this point,

that's what was going through my head. I can walk.

And every time I did something new, like I sat up, I would cry.

And then I would walk, first steps, I would cry,

'but then it was sore to cry, so I'd have to stop myself.'

Oh, that hurts.

'And I remember when the physio came round to my house

'and he taught me because

'I needed three people to get me in and out of bed, basically.

'He taught me how to get out of bed and into bed on my own.'

And I remember getting into the bed and my head hitting the pillow

and just crying.

This will be the longest I've been on the bike within one session.

The longest I've been over two sessions is one hour,

so I did 30 minutes each session, on and off.

This is going to be 40 minutes, so.

That's something that I keep reminding myself every day,

how far I've come. Because if

I don't remind myself that I'll get annoyed because I can't do something.

But if I think, "Look, four weeks ago you were in bed and you

"couldn't move without excruciating pain through your back and legs."

'I've just got in my head, you know, those days when I'll be

'competing on the track and in Glasgow and that's all I'm thinking

'about now and I'm not thinking about how I'm going to get there.

'I'm just believing that I'm going to be there.'

I'm getting bored in here all the time. I just want to ride my bike.

'My six week scan. I feel kind of nervous, but excited.

'I've got a good feeling.

'So, yeah, it was strange being back in that machine just remembering

'last time I couldn't move.

'It was sore.'

And the bed's going to move again.

'I've been doing quite a lot of rehab work

'and I've been doing more meaningful sessions on the static bike,

'managing to really apply some pressure to the pedals now.'

Well done, that's all finished.

'I should get the results in the next couple of days.'

Hopefully as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to getting them.

'I feel a bit like I'm about to race. It's a weird feeling.

'It's like nervous, but excited at the same time.

'I think I'm a wee bit scared,

'but there's obviously going to be fear in the back of

'my mind and things because I wouldn't want to risk

'breaking anything again.

'So, yes, it's to be a controlled environment

'and maybe do some kind of pacing effort.'

I'm not sure what the coach has got in mind for me,

but just go along with it.

-COMMENTATOR:

-McCullough, bringing herself up to the line here

for the gold medal.

Yes, there it is, so Australia take the gold medal.

Scotland settle for the silver.

Jenny Davis and Charline Joiner are the winners

of the silver for Scotland.

-I feel quite emotional.

-What are you doing?

-Quite shaky.

You'll be fine.

'I know Charline is resilient enough

'and she's got the character to be able to pull through.'

It might even have cranked up her motivation a little bit more

because she had a much higher sense of urgency because she had to

get going and get her fitness back as quick as she can and as

soon as she's there, she's going to have to step it up another level.

Get yourself ready, Charline.

'I was just going round

'and seeing what it was like and getting my confidence back up.

'I just felt like I hadn't been away from the track.

'Having to hold back when I actually feel quite fit and fast was quite

'tough, so by the last effort I was glad that I could give it full.'

Good work, mate. How does that feel? Do you need to do that?

-I tell you what, position, awesome.

-Good.

-Well aero.

-Oh, yes.

'You know, after being off the bike for so long, I'm not that far from

'the qualifying time as what I thought I would be,

'so that's really good news.'

Really, I'm keeping an eye on...

Is she comfortable on the bike, is the first thing?

Any indication of pain would be a sign of something not quite right,

so we'd want to investigate that a little bit further.

In terms of looking at her technique on the bike,

having a check on position - has that changed significantly?

To make sure that she's not picking up other ways of moving

as a result of the injury, and it all looks really good today.

Back feels good.

No...

No pain.

It's not even stiff.

I feel like I'm fixed,

but apparently I'm only half fixed!

I was at the track with you last time,

and I pushed myself a little bit too hard.

CHARLINE COUGHS

Then came off and started coughing.

What we call pursuer's cough.

It's not pushed me back, but it's maybe stopped me

from moving forward faster than I would have liked to.

But you're always going to have setbacks

and there's nothing I can really do.

Yeah, that's the most weight I've lifted since, erm...

my accident, yeah, so...

I think it's a really positive step

and I'm still keeping really positive.

This morning was my last scan.

I've not got the results back

but I actually went to see the doctor before and I did some tests with him

and he gave me the all-clear to ride on the road.

I mentioned that I had a 12-week scan on Twitter

and Lizzie Armitstead messaged back saying

"Oh, I didn't know you were pregnant!"

She knew it was for my back,

but I did put out another tweet,

just to make sure everybody knew it wasn't that!

My first race back will be in Buxton

on my birthday, Good Friday, 18th April.

How do you feel, all right?

-Yeah, I feel like I could... I'll be fine.

-Yeah.

I do need to, maybe, off the track

do some shifts to get my speeds back up.

But I felt like I could've pushed something bigger.

Today I've got to go out behind the motorbikes,

getting some motorbike pacing,

It basically just allows me to go faster than what I can.

The motorbike makes a windbreak,

so I can tuck behind it and go really fast.

It just allows me to get up to really high speeds.

It helps me with speed endurance -

going really, really fast,

and strength.

I think, maybe just...

What gear are you on?

You're just bouncing a wee bit, maybe. Just a wee bit.

Today showed me that I've come a long way.

I've actually recovered really quickly,

because I was getting up to the same kind of speeds that I was last year.

It wasn't able to go as long, as I was before,

but I was able to hit the speeds

and after a couple of weeks of doing that, I'll be back up there.

So it was a really positive day.

It was hard.

I feel sick.

Well, go and be sick.

Get your breath back.

One more, Charline?

Get off and have a wee walk around, just to keep everything moving.

So, are we all set?

-Last one?

-Yep.

-OK? Let's go for it.

Good first session.

How do you feel, Charline?

-Hm?

-How do we feel?

-Tired.

So, I was supposed to be going to Buxton today, but I'm not.

I'm packing up for the track.

Quite relieved I'm not going,

Erm...to be honest, I'd been...

My whole focus since the accident has been on the track,

so I wasn't going to be as prepared as I could be,

for a time trial.

So, it's not really what I need.

I just need to focus on one thing.

Erm, which is the track.

And I was not looking forward to that drive.

My back has actually been a bit niggly, so...

Yeah, I think I've made the right decision.

Oh, no...!

Things can be fixed!

Just like backs.

We are in Edinburgh Airport

and I'm on my way to my first race in Stoke.

Last night we had a little bit of drama.

I was looking for my passport

and couldn't find it.

Er, realised that it's actually... it's probably been stolen

with my toolkit.

Someone's walked into my house and taken some of our stuff.

I had about seven chain rings in it which cost about £108 each.

Top of the range stuff.

Luckily you can use your driver's licence

on non-international flights.

Thank you very much.

I feel quite speechless.

I don't know how to describe the way I'm feeling.

It's a bit of excitement,

relief...

RACE STARTER COUNTS DOWN

KLAXON BLARES

LOUDSPEAKER: 'Charline Joiner taking that sprint..."

First race back,

I got seventh and I won the bunch sprint that I was in,

and we won the team prize.

I love racing!

I love racing.

I could cry, I'm so happy.

It's happy, it's relief...

Some people didn't know whether...

how I would be back in a bunch,

but it's literally like nothing's happened.

# I got shoes on my feet

# I got a shelf full of books

# And most of my teeth

# A few pairs of socks and a door with a lock

# I got food in my belly... #

I've learnt to be a bit...

I've always been a happy person

but it's so much more important now.

-# Nothing's going to bring me down

-Nothing's going to bring me down

# Nothing's going to bring me down... #

You know, when you're lying in bed and you can't walk or stand,

it just puts everything in perspective.

And, you know, I realised that cycling is just what I do

and what I love but, you know, my friends and family are my life.

I'm really happy with how it went, considering it's my first race back.

It's just going to get better every time now.

# Getting hotter now it's only getting sweeter

# Baby

# Ooh, it's getting hotter now it's only getting sweeter. #

So, erm, I just need to keep my confidence up

so that I can...just be confident in myself to actually get

the breaks next time, stay near the front a bit more and I'll be fine.

I just really... I want to be at the Games so much.

And I need to prove that. So, I think....

# Best of all

# I got my man baby... #

Four months and a week since I broke my back.

# I got my baby... #

So, I've done well, I think.

And the cycling team will be picked later this week so keep

your eye on the BBC Sport Scotland website for all the latest details.

As we saw there, Charlie Joiner is a silver medallist.

16 years ago, boxer Alex Arthur went one better

and the passage of time hasn't diminished his memories.

Henry Gilliland did it in 1950. John McDermott did it in 1962.

And Alex Arthur is going to do it here in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Walking to the ring, it felt almost like a pressure

but also a release of pressure.

So, it was mixed emotions because I was already there.

I remember telling myself, "Just go do what you always do," you know,

"whatever happens happens."

-ANNOUNCER:

-In the red corner, Marty O'Donnell representing Canada.

He was a world-class amateur.

He'd already been to the Olympic Games,

he was punching really hard.

He dropped a couple of opponents in the build-up to the final

in earlier matches.

And he was left-handed.

So, my tactics were different to the other matches.

KLAXON BLARES

The plan was to get an early lead, to get a really convincing lead

and try and score well with straight right hands.

The plan was to land as many right hands as I could

then slip off, dance out the distance,

go back in, attack again and keep moving.

But it never quite worked out like that

and I found myself standing my ground a little bit too much,

trying to trade punches with him

to show him that I was just as strong as him

and I fell short on the lead and I was losing, going into round four.

I started boxing to instruction.

Come on, Alex, because Scotland really needs this one.

That's better stuff from him. Getting out of the way.

In the fourth round, I done it perfectly.

I threw three or four really fast head punches.

And I started mixing my combinations up.

So, I would throw maybe two shots to the body

and then one shot to the head and then I would move.

And I think I got like a four-point lead going into the last round.

And this has been a good turnaround by Arthur.

The old Alex Arthur style is now starting to come in.

And this has been a great round for Arthur.

He's turned it around completely.

Four points to the good going into the last two minutes.

I was pretty tired.

But because I knew I had a lead

and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, you know,

I maintained my composure

and I tried to just be really smart, defensively,

you know, and I didn't run away as such because I knew I had a lead.

But I definitely boxed more cagily, you know,

I was dead cagey about how I went about my game plan in the last round.

He's the best featherweight in the Commonwealth and Alex Arthur,

the Scots captain, is going to lead by example.

And Alex Arthur is only five seconds away from winning Commonwealth gold.

And he's deserved it. He's been the master all the way through.

I remember when they announced it and it just said Arthur, Scotland.

I remember falling on my knees thinking, "Thank goodness.

"Thank goodness for that."

Honestly, still, to this day, for me, it's the highlight of my career.

It's the absolute...

Personally, it's the greatest moment.

It wasn't for monetary gain, you know.

It wasn't for a promoter, it wasn't for anything else other than

the fact that I was winning a gold medal for my country and my family,

you know, and that stays with you because it's real.

There's plenty been happening this month. He's Jane Lewis.

She'll fill you in.

Scotland's Niall Stott picked up his 150th international hockey cap

during the Four Nations tournament in Glasgow.

Despite finishing bottom of the group,

coach Derek Forsyth has had his appetite whetted

for the Commonwealth Games.

It's great to come in and all the people are in the stand, the kids,

they're all cheering, they're wishing the players well,

they're talking to the players after the game, yeah, it's great.

I think the Commonwealth Games in July and August

will be fantastic here and it will really bind the team.

Meanwhile, Scotland's ladies finished seventh

in the Champions Challenge,

following a 3-2 defeat to South Korea.

Team Scotland has named its badminton team for Glasgow

and it includes Robert Blair who represented England four years ago.

Recently, I went to university in England

and I ended up representing them as you need some funding,

it's not a rich sport like football or something like that

so they offered me a place in the tournament

so I ended up playing there.

But I have been back living here for quite a few years now,

about four or five years so it was natural.

And it's nicer for me to represent my home country and especially

when something like this is on your doorstep.

The athletics team has also been bolstered and among those added

is 42-year-old marathon runner Hayley Haining.

-COMMENTATOR:

-It's going to be a glorious, glorious win.

Mo Farah for Great Britain!

Mo Farah has announced via Twitter that he is Glasgow bound,

though he is yet to decide on an event.

And finally, we're off to Scotstoun.

Now, Scottish international rugby teams

haven't been doing too well recently.

Would that change as the IRB Sevens came to town

in a dress rehearsal for the Commonwealth Games?

Phil Goodlad was there.

In the little town of Melrose, sevens rugby was born

and we gave it to the world.

Can anyone stop him in this position?

He cuts inside and the answer to that is no.

No-one can stop him.

And on the first weekend of May, the world brought it back

as round eight of the IRB International Seven Series

came to Scotstoun.

The attraction of sevens, you know, you follow this around the world.

Johnny, the 15 aside game can be very, very complex,

in terms of its intricacies and the ruck and the breakdown

but for sevens, it is seven minutes each way, seven players, there is

a try scored every 90 seconds, John, and it is the most wonderful sport.

And those in attendance were in for a wonderful weekend,

typified by Scotland, first match against Australia,

though it didn't start all that well.

He's through for the opening try.

This is the opener for Australia.

They lead by five points to nil.

Scotland responded with tries by Scott Riddell

and Colin Gregor before Lee Jones sealed the win.

He's up the far side. Can he get clear? He's made it!

It's a drive for Lee Jones.

This is the one that secures the win for the Scots.

A clash with the USA was plain sailing,

reflected by a 26 points to nil victory.

It was a day when tensions were running high...

..even in the mighty All Blacks camp.

I just saw the huddle and the coach didn't seem entirely happy with your performance.

Yeah, he said we were a bit messier on the contact area.

Also not really using Whipp.

Sometimes, you'd like to tap him on the shoulder and point to

the scoreboard and say, "We've won two out of two so far"?

Er, I don't think I have the, er, confidence to do that at the moment.

There was no shortage of confidence in the Scotland side,

however, and victory over Spain would guarantee qualification

for the cup quarter-finals.

He's inside again.

Scott Riddell inside again! To Colin McGregor.

What a score.

Superb support played by the Scots.

A 19-point win set up a meeting with South Africa.

You know, it's a good day one but as I said to the boys the other day,

one counts for nothing. All it's done is provide us with an opportunity.

We need to take that opportunity.

On Sunday, there was a sense of destiny about Scotland's

attempts to make pussycats of the mighty Springboks.

And while it didn't start too well,

the courage of this side was about to be displayed yet again.

In goes Vernon. Vernon for the try for Scotland.

Scott Riddell!

Riddell! Is it in? The try is given.

Canada or Kenya, who do you fancy, for your sins?

Looks like Canada are 14-0 up just now

so it's quite a big lead in these conditions so it may well be them.

We know their strengths but again, it is about focusing on us as a team

and executing our game

and just building, as we have been all tournament.

-Best of luck and well done.

-Thank you very much.

# Let me take a selfie. #

Was the Scottish bubble about to burst against semifinalists

and Commonwealth opposition Canada?

Scott Riddell's late try merely consolation.

Brilliant work to get right up there in support.

Five. Canada, ten.

So, rather than a final, Scotland finished their campaign

on the wrong end of the third fourth place play-off with Fiji.

-COMMENTATOR:

-Can he make it to the corner? He's there.

A defeat not enough to take the gloss off the weekend.

We all know you from the full 15 but just how difficult is it to

readjust or indeed how easy? Because you've made it look easy.

Oh, no, it's been very difficult.

I was lucky enough to be in camp for two weeks and learned the ropes.

I really enjoyed it.

A lot of it is about playing rugby but the exposure

that I have had out there is night and day from 15s.

15s will feel very crowded and comfortable now. Put it that way.

I guess a number of people

will be surprised that Canada have made the final.

When you look at the Commonwealth group for the end of July

for the sevens, you'd think, "Well, Scotland and New Zealand will get up

"in that group," but it just shows how difficult sevens rugby is.

Well, we like to think so. We had New Zealand and Canada last time in the Commonwealth Games

but Canada proved how tough a nut to crack they've been this season.

They've played some of their best stuff in the last two tournaments.

Good luck to them in the final.

But a word of caution - these boys will be back and hungry, as ever.

And that's it for today.

Our next programme will be in June as more stories of Glasgow 2014

loom large on the horizon.

Now, Scottish sport was saddened by the passing of Elena Baltacha

and our thoughts are with her friends and her family.

Bye-bye.

This year,

I would like to be number one in Great Britain for my age group.